The “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre in Lublin is a local government cultural institution. It works towards the preservation of cultural heritage and education. Its function is tied to the symbolic and historical meaning of the Centre’s location in the Grodzka Gate, which used to divide Lublin into its respective Christian and Jewish quarters, as well as to Lublin as a meeting place of cultures, traditions and religions.

Part of the Centre are the House of Words and the Lublin Underground Trail.

The “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre in Lublin is a local government cultural institution. It works towards the preservation of cultural heritage and education. Its function is tied to the symbolic and historical meaning of the Centre’s location in the Grodzka Gate, which used to divide Lublin into its respective Christian and Jewish quarters, as well as to Lublin as a meeting place of cultures, traditions and religions.

Part of the Centre are the House of Words and the Lublin Underground Trail.

The Gate of Memory

The Grodzka Gate is an important landmark of Lublin. It used to be called 'the Jewish Gate', as it separated, or rather joined, Christian and Jewish quarters of the city, becoming a passage between two different worlds.

When, in 1992, the NN Theatre moved into the Grodzka Gate, its members understood that they thus became responsible for saving the memory of Polish and Jewish Lublin.

Brama Grodzka w Lublinie. Fotografia
Brama Grodzka w Lublinie. Fotografia (Author: Autor nieznany)

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The first traces of Jews in Lublin come from the 16th century. The oldest, but not evidenced, trace of Jewish settlement in Lublin is information about king Casimir the Great's privileges for Jews in 1336. However, the oldest material traces of a Jewish presence in Lublin is rabbi Jehuda Halevi Kopelman's tombstone from 1541, situated in the Old Jewish cemetery.

In the 15th and 16th centuries the Jewish city began to develop quickly, mainly due to good economic conditions. Nevertheless, already in 1535 Lublin was assigned a De non tolerandis Judeis law, which banned Jews from settling within city walls. This contributed to the development of the Podzamcze region, surrounding the castle, and including the Jewish district therein.

In Lublin, Jews played a vital role in many fields of the city's development. This particularly concerned religious life - prompting Lublin to be dubbed "The Polish Kingdom of Jerusalem" - as well as science, causing Lublin to be nicknamed the "Jewish Oxford"; and culture, among others, due to the development of one of the first Hebrew printing houses in Poland, as well as economic life.

Strona tytułowa traktatu talmudycznego PesechimTitle page of the Talmudic Tractate Pesachim, 1562.

The interwar period was a time of a large expansion of the Jewish community in Lublin. 15 Jewish schools were open in Lublin at that time, Yiddish newspapers were published, amateur theatre developed. Jews were also active on the Lublin political scene.

When the Second World War broke out, 43 000 Jews lived in Lublin, constituting about a third of the city's population.

The Second World War brought about the extermination of Lublin Jews. The destruction of the Jewish district left a vast gap in the city. A few-hundred-year development of bi cultural, Polish-Jewish city, came to its end. Dozens of years had passed and new Lublin forgot about this Polish-Jewish city, about the crowded streets, houses and synagogues that used to fill empty spaces around the Lublin Castle.

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The gate is an important sign for us but also a symbol of the past, so our programme aiming at recovering memory about Polish-Jewish Lublin is called "Gate of Memory". The programme has been driven by the "Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre" Centre since 1990s. It's purpose is to gather and present articles, documents and testimonies related with Lublin Jews, their lives and activities. With time, the Gate of Memory programme developed and embraced artistic, educational and publishing activities, concentrated around the subject of Jewish cultural heritage in Lublin and Lublin region.

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In order to recover and preserve Lublin and its citizens past, as a part of Gate of Memory programme, an internet portal The Gate of Memory – Lublin Jews was created. The portal takes visitors for a walk around the streets of vanished Jewish city in Lublin, shows the spatial arrangement of the Jewish district and presents the most important places  related with the Lublin Jewish community.

The portal presents content concerning history of Lublin Jews (The Council of Four Lands 1580–1764Timeline of Lublin Jews – the Most Important Facts), religious life (Maharshal synagogue, Chewra Nosim synagogue, Yeshiva - Rabbinical Academy, synagogue in Wieniawa district, Old Jewish cemetery, New Jewish cemetery), daily life, political activity and cultural life (The Artists of the Jewish District in LublinArchitecture of the former Jewish quarter in Lublin) of the Lublin Jewish community.

The Gate of Memory – Lublin Jews portal provides also an opportunity to learn about many Jews who lived in Lublin and who were related with Lublin and contributed to the city's development. 

On pages of the Gate of Memory – Lublin Jews one can also find educational materials for teachers and students, concerning subjects related to the Lublin Region; Lublin Region multiculturalism, Lublin culture and history, as well as profiles of people working on the broad subject-matter of Jewish cultural heritage of Lublin and Lublin Region.

The part on Holocaust aims at ordering knowledge about Nazi policy of Jews extermination in Lublin district during the Second World War. during the Second World War. It includes information about the creation and development of Lublin and Lublin Region ghettos (Podzamcze ghetto, Majdan Tatarski ghetto), work camps (7 Lipowa Street, Flugplatz), concentration camps (Majdanek) and death camps (Bełżec, Sobibór), as well as deportations (Umschlagplatz of Lublin) and a characteristic of the Nazi repression system (Administrative structure of General Government and the Lublin districtGuard Forces of the SS and Police Leader in Lublin). This part includes also descriptions of activities tending towards the final elimination of Jewish community from the area of General Government (Operation Reinhardt in Lublin district) and places connected with the Shoah (Jewish orphanage).

Getto w Lublinie
Getto w Lublinie (Author: Kirnberger, Max)

The portal also honors memory of people who – often risking their lives – helped Jews to escape the Holocaust – Righteous among the Nations. 

 

The part on Jewish community life in Lublin after 1944 presents Jewish organizations in Lublin, the map of post-war places related to Lublin Jewish life in 1944–1950, memories of Lublin March '68 emigrants, official commemorations (Memorial to the Extermination of Jewish Population, Lublin Memory Trail) and information about the Landsmanshaft of Lublin Jews and Books of remembrance

Pomnik Ofiar Getta
Pomnik Ofiar Getta (Author: Dudkowski, Kamil)

One can also find on the portal presentations of varied ways of realizing memory projects, which are strongly connected with local – Lublin and Lublin region – history.

 

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